Auckland Blues and Pat Lam: Once were warriors

Remember the mid-nineties when Graham Henry coached the Auckland Blues? Heck at Super 12 fixture against those bad boys was as a big as a Test Match and if you consider the state of Northern Hemisphere rugby back then, playing Auckland in Auckland was probably tougher than most test matches.

Those were the days if you were an Aucklander. Seinfeld was still on tv, Biebermania hadn’t yet swept the nation and you could satisfy yourself that come Saturday whichever hapless baby seals were going to be offered up as opposition to the Blues would be clubbed to death mercilessly in front of a rabid crowd at Auckland Park. There was even talk of visiting coaches deliberating picking understrength sides to face Auckland simply to avoid injuring key players in a game that was going to be a loss anyway.

Fast forward to 2012. Pat Lam has already broken the franchise record for most defeats in a season and the season isn’t even half way. Nine losses in a season? I suspect my views will be unpopular here, but I have to say, I’ve never digged Pat Lam. His post-match interview in the 95 World Cup after Samoa got spanked by the Boks was the stuff of complete knobs.

Pat has gone on record complaining about people criticising him on the “interwebs” and “the twitter”. Sure, it’s over the top Pat. Is that a surprise? You’re the coach of a legendary franchise and during your tenure their name is being humiliated. Didn’t you lose to the Melbourne Rebels? You deserve to cop a lot of flack if you coach a top team and have a miserable record with them. Just ask Harry Viljoen. Don’t take the social media stuff personally. You should see what they say about Barack Obama on there… dude, you’re not special in copping a bit of abuse.

p.s. Where is all the support from the railway stand at Newlands now for Auckland?